The invention relates to a cooling device, especially for a liquid-cooled internal-combustion engine for use in an armoured vehicle with an annular-gap grating at a wall of the vehicle and a fan inside of the vehicle upstream of the grating.
A cooling device for liquid-cooled internal-combustion engines with fuel cooling is known from German patent Specification No. 2,462,475. In this arrangement the air-stream of a radial fan is guided through an annular-gap grating, that is to say an annular air-guiding labyrinth, which is fastened to the vehicle wall. At the same time, the annular-gap grating and the radial fan are connected to one another by means of a flexible line portion. This cooling device has too high a space requirement for use in an armoured vehicle, and it is possible to gain access to the fan motor only by means of partial dismantling of adjacent components.
Furthermore, German Offenlegungsschrift (published, unexamined application) No. 1,455,760 makes known, in an armoured vehicle, a cooling device with a cooling-air channel in which is inserted an air guide body which is supported on air guide blades and which contains the drive of the fan. The cooling-air channel is closed by means of a bar grating. At the same time, however, because the cooling device is located behind the bar grating a considerable construction space is required.
An object of the invention is to arrange the cooling device in a space-saving manner, while ensuring good accessibility to the fan.
This object is achieved according to the invention by means of disposing and intergrally supporting the fan and the air guide body at the annular-gap grating. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the fan motor is intergrated into the annular-gap grating. In this preferred embodiment, a releasable cover for the air guide body is also provided. The annular-gap grating itself is preferably fastened from the outside to the vehicle wall to facilitate removal and access to the fan and fan driving components.
The cooling device according to the invention has the best possible utilisation of the construction space because the air guide blades, the air guide body and the fan are integrated in the annular-gap grating. it is also possible to assemble the annular-gap grating together with the fan from outside and to provide accessibility to the fan drive motor with the preferred construction of the invention.
These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which shows, for purposes of illustration only, a single embodiment in accordance with the present invention.